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t  h  a 


STORY    OF 


JOSEPH  AND  HIS  BRETHREN 


IN    THREE    PARTS 


JBOM    THE    LONDON   EDITION 


NEW. YORK: 
GENERAL  PROT.  EPISCOPAL  S.  S.  UNION, 

DANIEL   DANA  Jr.   AGENT. 

Depository  20  John  Street 

1646 


Stereotyped  by  Vincent  L.  Dill, 

Sun  Building,  N.  T. 
B.  "W.  Raper,  Printer 


THE   STORY 


OF 


JOSEPH   AND   HIS   BRETHREN 


PART    I. 


HE  first  part  of  Joseph's  story, 
though  both  instructive  and  en- 
tertaining to  all,  is  particularly 
so  to  children.  I  propose  to  tell  the  story 
nearly  in  the  words  of  the  Old  Testament, 
but  to  make  now  and  then  a  few  remarks 
upon  it. 

Joseph  was  trie  son  of  good  old  Jacob. 
Mow  Jacob,"  says  the  Scripture,  "  loved 


u 


6  THE    STORY   OF   JOSEPH 

Joseph  more  than  all  his  children,  because 
he  was  the  son  of  his  old  age :  and  he  made 
him  a  coat  of  many  colours.  And  when 
his  brethren  saw  that  their  father  loved  him 
more  than  all  his  brethren,  they  hated  him, 
and  could  not  speak  peaceably  unto  him." 

But  was  not  this  hatred  of  Joseph's 
brethren  against  Joseph  very  wicked ?  It 
is  true  Jacob  might  be  faulty  in  showing  so 
much  partiality  to  one  son  above  another, 
yet  this  was  no  excuse  for  the  hatred  which 
was  felt  by  Joseph's  brethren.  Methinks 
this  hatred,  though  as  yet  it  is  only  con- 
cealed in  their  breasts,  will,  by-and-by, 
break  out  into  some  very  wicked  act  or 
other.     But  let  us  go  on  with  the  story. 

"  And  Joseph  dreamed  a  dream,  and  he 
told  it  to  his  brethren :  and  they  hated  him 
yet  the  more." 


AND    HIS    BRETHREN.  7 

This  is  doing  worse  and  worse !  and  it 
shows  that  when  hatred  once  begins,  we 
know  not  where  it  will  end. 

"  And  Joseph  said  unto  them,  Hear,  I 
pray  you,  this  dream  which  I  have  dream- 
ed :  for  behold  we  were  binding  sheaves  in 
the  field,  and  my  sheaf  arose  and  also  stood 
upright,  and  behold  your  sheaves  stood 
round  about  and  made  obeisance  (or  bowed 
down)  to  my  sheaf." 

Joseph  seems  to  me  to  have  told  this 
dream  thus  publicly,  through  his  openness 
of  heart  and  simplicity;  it  was  a  dream 
moreover  which  God  sent,  and  God  caused 
afterwards  the  thing  signified  by  it  to  be 
fulfilled,  as  in  due  time  we  shall  see. 

"  And  his  brethren  said  to  him,  Shalt 
thou  indeed  reign  over  us  ?  and  they  hated 
him  yet  the  more  for  his  dream,  and  now 


8  THE    STORY   OF   JOSEPH 

for  his  words. — And  Joseph  dreamed  yet 
another  dream,  and  told  it  his  brethren, 
and  said,  Behold  I  have  dreamed  a  dream 
more ;  and  behold  the  sun,  and  the  moon, 
and  the  eleven  stars  made  obeisance  to  me. 
And  he  told  it  to  his  father,  and  to  his 
brethren ;  and  his  father  rebuked  him,  and 
said  to  him,  What  is  this  dream  that  thou 
hast  dreamed?  shall  I,  and  thy  mother, 
and  thy  brethren,  indeed  come  to  bow 
down  ourselves  to  thee  to  the  earth  ?  " 

Poor,  honest,  simple  old  man,  he  little 
knew  how  his  own  interpretation  of  the 
dream  was  by-and-by  to  be  exactly  fulfill- 
ed, for  so  God  had  ordained. 

"  And  his  brethren  envied  him,  but  his 
father  observed  the  saying." 

After  this  we  read  that  Joseph's  brethren 
went  to  feed  their  father's  flock  in  Shechem, 


AND    HIS    BRETHREN.  9 

and  Jacob  sent  Joseph  to  them,  saying, 
"Go,  I  pray  thee,  see  whether  it  be  well 
with  thy  brethren,  and  well  with  the  flocks, 
and  bring  me  word  again.  So  he  sent  him, 
and  Joseph  came  to  Shechem ;  but  it  hap- 
pened that  they  and  the  flocks  were  gone 
forward  beyond  Shechem,  even  to  Dothan. 
So  Joseph  went  after  his  brethren,  and 
found  them  in  Dothan.  And  when  they 
saw  him  afar  off,  they  said  one  to  another, 
Behold,  this  dreamer  cometh ;  come  now 
therefore,  and  let  us  slay  him,  and  cast  him 
into  some  pit,  and  we  will  say  some  evil 
beast  hath  devoured  him,  and  we  shall  see 
what  will  become  of  his  dreams." 

What  a  dreadful  proposal !  What !  kill 
their  own  brother !  if  they  could  agree  to 
do  this,  I  do  not  wonder  at  their  agreeing 
also  to  tell  a  lie,  in  order  to  hide  their 


10  THE    STORY   OP   JOSEPH 

crime ;  thus  not  one  sin,  but  two  sins  were 
to  be  committed.  But  is  it  possible  that 
all  these  eleven  brethren  should  join  in 
putting  Joseph  to  death?  Even  among 
bad  men,  some  are  apt  to  be  less  bad  than 
others :  surely  therefore  we  may  hope,  that 
one  or  other  of  Joseph's  brethren  will  be 
for  stopping  short  of  the  crime  of  murder. 

It  proved,  as  I  think  might  very  natu- 
rally be  expected,  that  one  of  Joseph's 
brethren,  named  Reuben,  though  he  seems 
before  to  have  joined  in  envying  Joseph, 
was  afraid  of  joining  in  this  most  horrid 
crime. 

When,  therefore,  "  Reuben  heard  it,  he 
delivered  him  out  of  their  hands;  and 
said,  Shed  no  blood,  but  cast  him  into  the 
pit  that  is  in  the  wilderness,  and  lay  no 
hand  on  him :  this  he  said  that  he  might 


AND    HIS    BRETHREN.  11 

rid  him  out  of  their  hands,  and  deliver  him 
to  his  father's  house.  And  it  came  to 
pass,  that  when  Joseph,"  who  was  at  a 
distance  while  this  conversation  passed, 
"  was  come  unto  his  brethren,  they  stripped 
Joseph  of  his  coat,  it  being  his  coat  of 
many  colours." 

What  satisfaction  would  they  feel  while 
they  were  thus  stripping  him !  This  was  the 
coat  which  Joseph's  father  had  given  him, 
because  he  was  a  favourite,  and  which  re- 
minded Joseph's  brethren  of  his  advantage 
over  them.  They  now  thought  themselves 
revenged  upon  him ;  and  revenge,  as  they 
would  say,  is  sweet.  Many  a  joke,  many  a 
bitter  and  severe  expression  was  uttered,  no 
doubt,  while  they  were  stripping  him ;  they 
had  got  him  into  their  power,  and  they  were 
resolved  to  show  that  they  were  greater 


12  THE    STORY    OF    JOSEPH 

than  he,  instead  of  his  being  greater  than 
they,  as  he  pretended. 

Now  this  sort  of  spirit  in  them  was  a  most 
wicked  thing;  it  was  coupled  with  envy, 
and  malice,  and  hatred,  and  was  not  far 
from  carrying  them  on  to  an  act  of  murder. 
And  here  let  me  warn  all  my  young  read- 
ers against  indulging  this  same  evil  tem- 
per. Thus,  for  instance,  if  you  should  hear 
your  teacher  praise  your  schoolfellow  who 
stands  near  you,  while  he  says  not  a  word 
of  praise  to  you,  do  not  hate  and  envy  your 
schoolfellow  on  this  account ;  or  if  you  see 
your  parent  give  a  reward  to  your  brother 
or  sister  for  supposed  good  behaviour,  do 
not  be  eager  to  think  that  you  equally  de- 
serve a  reward,  and  then  hate  or  envy  your 
brother  or  sister  for  being  more  favoured 
than  yourself,  for  this  is  to  act  in  the  same 


AND    HIS    BRETHREN.  13 

spirit  with  the  brethren  of  Joseph.  So  also, 
if  some  other  child  should  be  dressed  as 
fine  again  as  you  are,  and  even  as  fine  as 
Joseph  himself,  in  his  coat  of  many  colours, 
yet  do  not  do  as  Joseph's  brethren  did.  Do 
not  feel  any  ill-will  towards  your  brother? 
your  sister,  or  play-fellow  for  this  reason. 
Do  not  long  to  strip  the  fine  coat  off  him, 
as  Joseph's  brethren  stripped  the  fine  coat 
off  of  Joseph  ;  but  endeavour  to  look  upon 
his  fine  dress  contentedly,  and  without 
envy,  and  without  any  desire  to  take  it 
from  him,  and  to  put  it  on  your  own  backs. 
This  is  one  of  the  lessons  that  you  ought 
to  learn  from  the  present  story,  which  was 
not  written  in  the  Bible  in  order  to  enter- 
tain you  only,  and  in  order  to  teach  you 
how  to  read,  but  in  order  to  instruct  you  in 
your  duty  also.     This  passion  of  hatred 


14  THE    STORY   OF    JOSEPH 

and  envy,  if  indulged  when  you  are  young, 
may  lead  to  dreadful  consequences  when 
you  are  old.  We  shall  presently  show  you 
very  plainly  how,  in  the  case  of  Joseph's 
brethren,  it  led  on  to  lying  and  to  cruelty, 
and  almost  even  to  murder. 

For  "  after  they  had  stripped  Joseph  of 
his  coat,  they  took  him  and  cast  him  into  a 
pit,  and  the  pit  was  empty,  and  there  was 
no  water  in  it.  And  they  sat  down  to  eat 
bread." 

How  very  hardened  must  these  brethren 
of  Joseph  have  been!  they  went  to  their 
dinner  after  they  had  thrown  Joseph  into 
the  pit,  just  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 
Men  who  thus  give  way  to  their  evil  pas- 
sions, are  apt  to  be  very  cruel  and  hard- 
hearted also. 

*  And  behold  a  company  of  Ishmaelites 


AND    HIS    BRETHREN.  15 

came  from  Gilead  with  their  camels,  bear- 
ing spicery,  and  balm,  and  myrrh,  going  to 
carry  it  down  to  Egypt" 

Now  a  new  thought  comes  across  one  of 
Joseph's  brethren,  who  was  named  Judah, 
and  who,  though  more  blameable  than 
Reuben,  yet  seems  rather  less  so  than  some 
of  the  others. 

"  And  Judah  said  unto  his  brethren, 
What  profit  is  it  if  we  slay  our  brother,  and 
conceal  his  blood  ?  Come  and  let  us  sell 
him  to  the  Ishmaelites,  and  let  not  our 
hand  be  upon  him,  for  he  is  our  brother, 
and  our  flesh." 

It  was  owing  then  to  the  good  providence 
of  God,  and  not  to  any  good  design  in  his 
brothers,  that  Joseph  escaped  being  put  to 
death.  It  pleased  God,  who  orders  all 
human  events,  to  bring  it  to  pass,  that  the 


16  THE    STORY    OF    JOSEPH 

merchants  of  Midian  should  draw  near  just 
at  the  time  when  Joseph's  brethren  were  in 
doubt  what  to  do  with  him.  This  is  what 
some  might  consider  as  chance,  and  a  most 
lucky  chance  they  might  call  it.  Such 
kind  of  chances  now  and  then  happen  to 
us  all,  but  in  fact  they  are  providences. 
There  is  many  a  narrow  escape  for  our 
lives  experienced  by  us,  which  is  entirely 
owing  to  God's  goodness,  though  at  the 
time  we  do  not  so  consider  it.  How  many 
have  tumbled  down  when  they  have  been 
children,  and  would  have  been  killed,  if 
some  arm  had  not  been  stretched  out  to 
save  them !  How  many  have  fallen  sick, 
and  would  have  died,  if,  at  the  critical  mo- 
ment, some  particular  medicine  had  not 
been  given  them !  And  how  many  have 
been  cast  away,   and   would  have    been 


AND    HIS    BRETHREN".  17 

drowned  in  the  sea,  if  the  same  God  who 
sent  the  Midianites  to  the  relief  of  Joseph 
had  not  sent  some  strange  and  unexpected 
ship  or  boat  to  the  place  where  they  were 
floating.  It  may  here  be  remarked  also, 
that  many  matters  of  importance  turn  to  the 
smallest  points.  If  these  Midianites  had 
not  gone  by  on  the  very  day,  and  the  very 
hour  of  the  day,  on  which  they  did,  Joseph 
(speaking  after  the  manner  of  men)  would 
probably  have  suffered  death,  and  not  one 
of  those  great  events  in  his  life,  which  are 
soon  to  be  spoken  of,  could  have  happened. 
One  of  the  chief  things  which  I  wish  my 
readers  to  learn  from  this  history  of  Jo- 
seph is  the  doctrine  of  a  particular  provi- 
dence. 

Judah  having  proposed  to  sell  his  brother 
to  the  Midianites,  instead  of  killing  him,  or 


18  THE    STORY    OP    JOSEPH 

leaving  him  in  the  pit,  as  had  been  wick- 
edly intended,  "  his  brethren  were  content. 
Then  they  drew  and  lifted  up  Joseph  out 
of  the  pit,  and  sold  Joseph  to  the  Ishmael- 
ites  for  twenty  pieces  of  silver;  and  the 
Ishmaelites  brought  Joseph  into  Egypt." 
Now  Egypt  was  a  far  country,  to  which, 
when  Joseph  was  carried,  his  brethren  con- 
cluded that  they  should  hear  no  more  of 
him. 

"  And  Reuben  returned  into  the  pit,  and 
behold  Joseph  was  not  in  the  pit ;  and  he 
rent  his  clothes,  and  he  went  to  his  breth- 
ren, and  said,  The  child  is  not  to  be  found, 
and  I,  whither  shall  I  go  ?  " 

Reuben  had  himself  proposed  the  mea- 
sure of  putting  Joseph  into  the  pit,  as  a 
contrivance  by  which  he  meant  to  save  his 
life,  for  he  secretly  intended  to  go  after* 


AND    HIS    BRETHREN.  19 

wards  to  the  pit,  and  to  deliver  him ;  but 
he  was  too  late  in  executing  his  purpose. 

"  And  they  took  Joseph's  coat,  and  killed 
a  kid  of  the  goats,  and  dipped  the  coat  in 
the  blood ;  and  they  brought  the  coat  of 
many  colours  to  their  father,  and  said,  This 
have  we  found,  know  now  whether  it  be 
thy  son's  coat  or  no." 

What  a  barefaced  lie  !  but  thus  does  one 
sin  lead  on  to  another.  It  is  easy  to  see 
from  this  story  of  Joseph's  brethren,  that 
when  people  resolve  upon  committing  one 
sin,  they  are  immediately  tempted  to  com- 
mit another  sin,  and  especially  to  commit 
the  sin  of  lying,  in  order  to  hide  what  they 
have  been  doing;  they  are  also  plunged 
from  this  time  into  a  thousand  straits 
and  difficulties,  and  it  is  by  adding  sin  to 
sin  that  they  commonly  try  to  get  out. 


20  THE    STORY   OF    JOSEPH 

Reader,  did  you  never  do  something  wrong, 
and  then  find  yourself  tempted  to  tell  some 
lie,  or  to  play  some  artful  trick  to  conceal 
it?  Joseph's  brethren  killed  a  kid,  and 
then  dipped  Joseph's  coat  in  the  blood  of 
it,  and  said  to  old  Jacob,  "  This  have  we 
found."  This  is  the  very  picture  of  what 
wicked  children  sometimes  do.  Having 
some  sin  to  conceal,  they  invent  a  fine  art- 
ful tale,  which  they  tell  to  their  masters, 
and  mistresses,  or  to  their  good  old  parents, 
who  too  readily  believe  it,  and  thus,  per- 
haps, like  Joseph's  brethren,  they  come  off 
for  the  present  unpunished.  But  soon,  as 
in  the  case  of  Joseph's  brethren,  their  lie 
will  be  found  out.  For  already  God  knows 
it.  God  saw  them  do  the  wicked  deed,  and 
God  now  hears  them  tell  the  lie  by  which 
they  hide  it.     God  waits,  indeed,  to  see  if 


AND    HIS    BRETHREN.  21 

they  will  repent,  but,  by-and-by,  perhaps, 
their  sin  shall  be  known  to  all  the  world, 
and  shall  not  go  unpunished.     God  saw 
from  the  very  first  the  secret  envy  rise  up 
in  the  hearts  of  the  brethren  of  Joseph. 
God   heard  them   when  they  sneered  at 
Joseph,    saying,     "  Behold    this    dreamer 
cometh,"  and  when  they  privately  talked 
together  of  killing  him.     God  saw  them 
throw  him  into  the  pit,  and  cruelly  leave 
him  there.     God  saw  them  also  when  they 
were   selling  him  to  the  Midianites.     He 
had  his  eyes  upon  them  while  they  were 
bargaining  by  the  pit's  side,  and  while  they 
were  counting  over  the  twenty  pieces  of 
silver,  which  they  afterwards  put  in  their 
pockets.     And  God's  presence  also  was  in 
the  midst  of  them  while  they  were  killing 
the  kid,  and  dipping  Joseph's  coat  in  the 


22  THE    STORY    OF   JOSEPH 

blood  of  it,  and  while  they  were  saying  to 
themselves,  Surely  now  no  one  will  ever 
know  the  thing  we  have  been  doing.  That 
story  which  these  foolish  men  thought 
would  never  be  known  by  any  body,  is 
now  published  in  the  book  of  Scripture, 
that  you  and  I,  and  all  the  world,  may  be 
acquainted  with  it,  and  that  we  may  draw 
the  right  instruction  from  it. 

"  When  poor  old  Jacob  saw  the  coat, 
he  immediately  knew  it,  and  said,  it  is  my 
son's  coat,  an  evil  beast  hath  devoured 
him;  Joseph  is,  without  doubt,  rent  in 
pieces.  And  Jacob  rent  his  clothes,  and 
put  sackcloth  upon  his  loins,  and  mourn- 
ed for  his  son  many  days.  And  all  his 
sons  and  all  his  daughters  rose  up  to  com- 
fort him." 

What  a  set  of  hypocritical  comforters 


AND    HIS    BRETHREN.  23 

must  these  sons  have  been,  and  how  many 
fresh  lies  must  they  have  told  when  they 
were  talking  with  their  father  ! 

"  But  Jacob  refused  to  be  comforted. 
And  he  said.  For  I  will  go  down  into  the 
grave  unto  my  son  mourning.  Thus  did 
his  father  weep  for  him." 


JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 


PART    II 

OW  little  do  we  know  whether 
the  things  which  befal  us  will 
^®^l|tNP  turn  out  for  our  happiness  or 
misery?  If  I  was  to  be  made  a  king  to- 
morrow, I  am  not  sure  that  it  would  not 
prove  to  my  hurt ;  and  if,  on  the  contrary, 
I  was  to  be  sold  to-morrow  for  a  slave,  it  is 
far  from  being  clear  that  it  might  not  be  for 
my  good ;  for  God  has  all  events  under  his 
direction ;  and  he  can  bring  strange  things 
to  pass  just  as  he  pleases. 


JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 


25 


Joseph  (as  we  have  already  told  you)  was 
sold  by  his  brethren  as  a  slave  to  a  com- 
pany of  Midianitish  merchants.  Now  the 
"  Midianites  brought  Joseph  down  to  Egypt, 
and  sold  him  to  Potiphar,  who  was  an  offi- 
cer or  captain  of  the  guard  to  king  Pha- 
raoh." Joseph  fell,  as  it  seems,  into  good 
hands ;  but  the  Scriptures  take  care  to 
inform  us  to  what  cause  this  was  to  be 
attributed ;  for  there  we  read,  that  "  the 
Lord  was  with  Joseph : "  hence  it  was 
that  "  he  became  a  prosperous  man ;  and 
he  was  taken  into  the  house  of  his  master 
the  Egyptian.  And  his  master  saw  that 
the  Lord  was  with  him,  and  that  the  Lord 
made  all  that  Joseph  did  to  prosper  in  his 
hands." 

What  a  great  thing  it  is  to  have  God's 
blessing  with  us  in  every  thing  we  do ! 


26  JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 

Some  people  are  always  talking  of  their 
good  or  bad  luck ;  and  according  to  such 
persons,  Joseph  was  merely  a  lucky  per- 
son ;  he  was  lucky  first,  they  would  say, 
in  getting  so  good  a  master,  and  still  more 
lucky  in  finding  every  thing  go  well  to 
which  he  set  his  hand :  in  fact,  however, 
there  is  no  such  a  thing  as  luck,  as  we 
have  observed  before ;  and  as  we  shall 
have  occasion,  again  and  again,  to  observe 
in  telling  this  story.  Let  us  learn,  there- 
fore, to  thank  God,  and  not  to  thank  our 
stars,  or  to  thank  fortune,  whenever  we 
succeed  in  any  thing ;  for  whatever  it  be, 
we  succeed  only  because  the  Lord  allows 
in  that  thing. 

Joseph  by  degrees  found  such  favour  in 
his  master's  sight,  "that  he  was  made 
overseer  of  the  house,  and  all  that  Potiphar 


JOSEPH    IN    PRISON.  27 

had  was  put  into  his  hands."  Such  was 
the  confidence  placed  in  him,  that  at  last 
Potiphar  seems  to  have  done  nothing  for 
himself,  but  to  have  left  it  all  to  Joseph ; 
for  we  read,  that  "  he  knew  not  aught  that 
he  had,  save  the  bread  that  he  did  eat ; " 
which  is  as  much  as  to  say,  that  he  knew 
indeed  what  food  was  set  before  him  at  his 
own  table,  in  order  that  he  might  eat  it ; 
but  as  to  all  the  rest  of  his  affairs,  he  knew 
nothing  about  them. 

Now  though  Potiphar  might  be  wrong 
in  doing  so  little  for  himself,  yet  what  an 
honour  was  it  to  Joseph  to  be  thus  com- 
pletely trusted !  I  have  known  sonte  com- 
mon servants,  indeed,  in  my  days,  who,  by 
being  very  remarkable  for  their  faithful- 
ness, have  risen  first  to  be  upper  servants, 
and  then  even  to  be  stewards  to  their  mas- 


28  JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 

ters.  Like  Joseph,  they  have  set  out  with 
doing  first  one  little  thing  well,  and  then 
another,  and  so  they  have  gone  on  till  they 
have  had  very  large  sums  trusted  to  them, 
and  have  got  into  places  of  prodigious  con- 
fidence ;  and  if  it  were  not  for  the  number 
of  servants  who  pretend  to  be  very  trusty 
when  they  are  not  so,  the  sort  of  case  I  am 
speaking  of  would  probably  happen  much 
oftener  than  it  does. 

"  And  it  came  to  pass,"  says  the  Scrip- 
ture, "  from  the  time  that  Potiphar  had 
made  Joseph  overseer  in  his  house,  that 
the  Lord  blessed  the  Egyptian's  house  for 
Joseph's  sake ;  and  the  blessing  of  the  Lord 
was  upon  all  that  he  had,  both  in  the  house 
and  in  the  field." 

What  an  encouragement  is  this  to  take 
good  people  into  our  family ;  for  God,  per- 


JOSEPH    IN    PRISON.  29 

haps,  may  bless  us  for  their  sakes.  Such 
a  good  man  as  Joseph  is  a  blessing 
wherever  he  goes. 

But  now  comes  a  new  scene  in  the  life 
of  Joseph.  His  prosperity  was  great;  but 
the  greatest  prosperity  is  sometimes  sud- 
denly interrupted.  Potiphar  had  a  very 
wicked  wife ;  and  "  she  cast  her  eyes " 
very  criminally  on  Joseph.  Joseph  indeed 
was  "  a  goodly  person,  and  well-favoured ; " 
and  this  very  goodliness,  or  beauty  of  his, 
proved  a  misfortune  to  him.  How  foolish, 
then,  are  those  persons  (whether  young 
men  or  young  women),  who  think  that  to 
be  handsome  and  well-looking  is  one  of 
the  greatest  blessings.  It  may  turn  out, 
perhaps,  to  be  the  greatest  snare ;  it  may 
prove  the  worst  calamity  that  ever  yet  befel 
you,  as  happened  in  Joseph's  case, 


30  JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 

It  appear's  that  Potiphar's  wife,  the  wick- 
ed woman  just  now  mentioned,  "  spake  to 
Joseph  day  by  day,"  and  tried  repeatedly 
to  seduce  him ;  "  but  Joseph  refused,  and 
said  unto  his  master's  wife,  Behold,  my 
master  observeth  not  what  is  with  me  in 
the  house,  and  he  hath  committed  all  that 
he  hath  to  my  hand.  There  is  none  greater 
in  this  house  than  I ;  neither  hath  he  kept 
back  any  thing  from  me  but  thee,  because 
thou  art  his  wife.  How  then  can  I  do  this 
great  wickedness,  and  sin  against  God  ?  " 

Here  let  us  stop,  in  order  to  consider  one 
of  the  most  striking  parts  of  the  character 
of  Joseph.  He  is  in  the  strongest  manner 
tempted  to  sin  by  a  wicked  woman:  he 
might  also  hope  for  her  favour,  if  he  con- 
sented ;  he  had  to  dread  her  wrath  if  he 
refused :    every  thing  united  to  make  the 


JOSEPH    IN    PRISON.  31 

temptation  strong :  he  was  invited  by  her, 
not  once  only,  but  again  and  again;  not 
publicly,  so  as  to  endanger  a  discovery,  but 
quite  secretly.  By  what  means,  then,  did 
Joseph  resist  the  temptation  1  He  resisted 
it  partly  by  reflecting  how  ungenerous  a 
thing  towards  his  master  it  would  be  to 
yield,  and  partly  also  by  saying  to  himself, 
as  he  also  said  to  the  woman,  "  How  can  I 
do  this  great  wickedness,  and  sin  against 
God?" 

Joseph  knew  that  the  eye  of  God  was 
upon  him  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places ; 
and  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  had  long  acted 
under  the  influence  of  this  knowledge. 
What  was  it  that  had  made  him  such  a 
faithful  steward  to  his  master's  goods  1  It 
was  his  being  aware  that  God  could  see 
the  smallest  dishonesty  in  him,  and  that 


32  JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 

God's  eye  was  upon  him  even  when  his 
master's  back  was  turned.  And  what  was 
it  that  made  him  now  resist  another  kind 
of  temptation?  It  was  the  same  principle 
of  regard  to  Almighty  God.  This  princi- 
ple seems  to  have  been  very  powerful  in 
him,  and  also  to  have  been  always  at 
hand.  Joseph  (I  warrant  you)  was  not 
used  to  pass  days  and  hours  together  with- 
out thinking  of  God,  as  some  people  do. 
Had  this  been  the  case,  I  question  whether 
he  would  not  have  yielded  to  one  or  other 
of  his  temptations. 

And  now  let  me  request  my  readers  to 
take  a  hint  from  Joseph,  and  to  try  them- 
selves in  the  following  manner.  Say  to 
yourselves,  What  am  I  in  secret?  What 
am  I  when  no  eye  but  that  of  God  is  upon 
me  ?     When  on  the  one  hand  some  fellow- 


JOSEPH    IN    PRISON.  33 

creature  invites  me  to  sin,  when  my  own 
inclinations  are  on  the  same  side,  when  a 
present  opportunity  offers,  when  there  is 
also  no  danger  of  discovery,  so  that  my  re- 
putation may  be  safe,  and  when  my  worldly 
interest  will  not  be  hurt  by  the  indulgence, 
but  will  rather  be  promoted  by  it;  when, 
in  short,  against  all  these  temptations  which 
beset  me,  there  is  nothing  to  oppose  but 
the  fear  of  God  in  the  heart,  how  do  I  then 
act  1  Is  the  fear  of  God  so  strong  in  me  as 
to  gain  the  victory  1  Am  I  able  with  his 
strength  to  conquer  my  temptations,  how- 
ever suited  to  my  age,  circumstances,  or 
condition  in  life,  by  saying  as  Joseph  did, 
"How  shall  I  do  this  great  wickedness, 
and  sin  against  God  ? "  Then  this  is  the 
effect  of  true  religion.  We  are  apt,  many 
of  us,  to  complain  of  the  difficulties  of  reli- 


34  JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 

giorij  and  to  say,  that  we  have  not  learning 
enough  to  understand  it;  but  surely  that 
fear  of  God  which  has  been  spoken  of,  is 
very  easy  to  be  understood.  I  only  wish  it 
was  easy  to  be  truly  felt.  Some  there  are 
who  fancy  themselves  religious,  because 
they  attend  at  religious  places  of  worship ; 
because  they  understand  well  some  reli- 
gious doctrines ;  because  they  remember 
to  have  once  experienced  certain  religious 
feelings,  or  because  they  have  now  a  num- 
ber of  religious  phrases  always  in  their 
mouth.  Let  such  persons  also  try  their 
religion  by  the  same  test.  Does  it  enable 
you  to  conquer  your  sins  ?  When  all  things 
seem  to  unite  on  the  side  of  sin,  does  your 
religion  in  any  measure  enable  you  to  get 
the  victory  ?  Secret  self-denial,  secret  con- 
quest over  ourselves,  secret  preference  to 


JOSEPH    IN    PRISON.  35 

God  above  all  the  world,  secret  conscious- 
ness of  having  been  enabled,  by  God's 
grace,  to  overcome  our  temptations,  and 
of  having,  like  Joseph,  stood  firm  to  God 
and  duty,  in  times  of  peculiar  and  repeated 
trial,  these  are  some  of  the  proofs  of  true 
religion ;  these  are  some  of  the  best  eviden- 
ces of  our  being  in  a  state  of  grace.  I 
would  value  these  evidences  above  any 
comfortable  frames  and  feelings ;  and  they 
are  more,  in  my  opinion,  than  a  thousand 
fancies,  or  impressions,  that  our  salvation  is 
sure.  Reader,  if  you  hope  to  stand  undis- 
mayed before  God  on  the  great  day  of  judg- 
ment, try  yourself  by  this  test.  "We  read 
but  little  in  scripture  of  Joseph's  religious 
opinions  (not  that  these  are  unimportant) ; 
we  read  nothing  about  the  particular  time 
and  manner  of  his  first  becoming  religious ; 


36  JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 

we  read  not  a  word   about  the  religious 
party  that  he  followed,  nor  the  religious 
name  he  bore  ;  but  we  read  that  he  resisted 
hard   temptations;    and  that  both   in   his 
prosperity   and  in  his   adversity    he   was 
faithful  to  his  God;  and  we  find  also,  as 
I  shall  presently  show  you,  that  although 
his  brethren  had  used  him  very  cruelly, 
yet  he  behaved  very  kindly  and  charitably 
towards   them,   and   forgave   them  freely, 
and  rejoiced  over  them  to  do  them  good. 
May  my  religion  be  like  his ;  and  may  the 
clearer  knowledge,  which  God  has  given 
me,  both  of  himself,  and  of  a  Saviour, 
make  me  the  more  earnest  to  do  his  will, 
and  to  walk   worthy   of   that    "vocation 
wherewith  I  am  called." 

But  to   return   to   the   story. — "  And  it 
came  to  pass  about  this  time,  that  Joseph 


JOSEPH    IN    PRISON.  37 

went  into  the  house  to  do  his  business,  and 
there  was  none  of  the  men  of  the  house 
there  within.  And  Potiphar's  wife  caught 
him  by  his  garment,  and  he  left  his  gar- 
ment in  her  hand,  and  fled,  and  got  him 
out.  And  it  came  to  pass  when  she  saw 
that  he  had  left  his  garment  in  her  hand, 
and  was  fled  forth,  that  she  called  unto  the 
men  of  her  house,  and  spake  unto  them, 
saying,  See,  he  hath  brought  in  an  Hebrew 
unto  us  to  mock  us  (or  to  offer  an  insult  to 
us),  and  I  cried  with  a  loud  voice ;  and  it 
came  to  pass,  when  he  heard  that  I  lifted 
up  my  voice,  and  cried,  that  he  left  his 
garment  with  me,  and  fled,  and  got  him 
out.  And  she  laid  up  his  garment  by  her 
until  his  lord  came  home ;  and  she  spake 
unto  him  according  to  the  same  words; 
and  it  came  to  pass,  when  his  master  heard 


38  JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 

the  words  of  his  wife,  that  his  wrath  was 
kindled.  And  Joseph's  master  took  him, 
and  put  him  into  the  prison,  a  place  where 
the  king's  prisoners  were  bound ;  and  he 
was  there  in  prison." 

What  a  change !  instead  of  having  the 
command  of  everything  in  Potiphar's  house, 
where  he  was  looked  up  to,  and  respected, 
he  is  shut  up  in  prison  among  thieves,  and 
other  wicked  or  suspected  persons.  And 
why  was  he  thus  shut  up  ?  For  doing 
wrong  7  No  !  but  for  doing  right.  It  now 
and  then  happens  in  this  world,  that  a  man 
suffers  for  fulfilling  his  duty.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  suppose,  that  virtue  here  below  is 
always  its  own  reward.  Reader,  if  you 
act  ever  so  right,  I  cannot  promise  you  that 
in  this  uncertain  world  you  will  always  be 
rewarded  for  it.    Your  conduct  may  chance 


JOSEPH    IN    PRISON.  39 

to  be  misrepresented,  or  not  sufficiently 
understood.  Some  enemy  may  injure  you ; 
some  false  and  hollow  friend  or  lover,  who 
is  become  offended,  may  turn  against  you. 
Some  one,  whose  feelings,  or  whose  inter- 
est you  may  have  wounded  through  your 
unbending  virtue  and  integrity,  may  set 
himself  up  as  your  enemy,  and  may  come 
and  give  false  evidence  against  you,  and 
may  charge  you,  possibly,  with  the  very 
sin  to  which  that  person  himself  has  tried 
in  vain  to  seduce  you,  and  from  which,  of 
all  the  sins  in  the  world,  you  are  happily 
the  most  clear.  Let  us  learn  from  this 
part  of  the  story  of  Joseph  to  look  to  God 
for  his  favour,  and  not  to  care  so  much,  as 
we  are  apt  to  do,  about  our  character  with 
our  fellow-creatures.  It  is  better  to  go  to 
prison,  like  Joseph,  for  the  sake  of  a  good 


40  JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 

conscience,  than  to  live  in  sin  with  Poti- 
phar's  wife  in  the  midst  of  a  palace,  even 
though  we  should  contrive  to  live  in  credit 
also. 

We  before  remarked,  that  when  Joseph 
was  sold  as  a  slave  to  Potiphar,  and  when 
his  affairs  seemed  at  the  worst,  "  yet  the 
Lord  was  with  him,  and  blessed  him,  and 
gave  him  favour  in  the  sight  of  Potiphar 
his  master."  The  same  God,  who  showed 
favour  to  him  in  his  former  distress,  showed 
him  the  same  favour  now ;  for  when  he  got 
into  prison,  we  read  again  that  "  the  Lord 
was  with  Joseph,  and  showed  him  mercy, 
and  gave  him  favour  in  the  sight  of  the 
keeper  of  the  prison.  And  the  keeper  of 
the  prison  committed  to  Joseph's  hand  all 
the  prisoners  that  were  in  the  prison,  and 
whatever  they  did  there  he  was  the  doer 


JOSEPH    IN    PRISON.  41 

of  it.  The  keeper  of  the  prison  looked  not 
to  any  thing  that  was  under  his  hand,  be- 
cause the  Lord  was  with  him,  and  that 
which  he  did  the  Lord  made  it  to  prosper. 
"  And  it  came  to  pass,  after  these  things, 
that  the  butler  of  the  king  of  Egypt,  and 
his  baker,  had  offended  their  Lord  the  king 
of  Egypt,  and  Pharaoh  was  wroth  against 
them,  and  put  them  into  the  prison  where 
Joseph  was  bound ;  and  the  captain  of  the 
guards  charged  Joseph  with  them;  and 
they  dreamed  a  dream  both  of  them,  each 
on  one  night;  and  Joseph  came  in  unto 
them  in  the  morning,  and  looked  upon 
them,  and  behold  they  were  sad ;  and  he 
asked  them,  Wherefore  look  ye  so  sadly 
to-day?  and  they  said  unto  him,  We  have 
dreamed  a  dream,  and  there  is  no  interpre- 
ter of  it.    And  Joseph  said  unto  them,  Do 


42  JOSEPH    IN   PRISON. 

not  interpretations  belong  to  God?     Tell 
me  them,  I  pray  you." 

In  ancient  times  it  pleased  God  occa- 
sionally to  send  dreams  in  order  to  make 
known  future  events ;  but  let  not  any  one 
therefore  suppose,  that  by  the  help  of 
dreams  he  can  dive  into  futurity  now.  In 
the  days  of  Joseph  men  were  in  much 
darkness  and  ignorance  concerning  the 
true  God.  Jesus  Christ  had  not  appear- 
ed, the  New  Testament  had  not  been  writ- 
ten, nor  as  yet  even  the  Old.  Signs  and 
wonders  were  therefore  used,  in  order  to 
prove  that  the  God  of  Joseph  was  the  true 
God.  But  now  we  no  longer  need  signs 
and  wonders,  for  the  Holy  Scriptures 
plainly  declare  him  unto  us;  and  if  any 
man  should  now  follow  his  dreams,  it  is 
more  than  probable  that  in  doing  so  he 


JOSEPH    IN   PRISON.  43 

would  be  obliged  to  disregard  Scripture, 
and  his  own  common  sense  also.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark,  indeed,  that  soon  after 
the  law  of  Moses  was  given,  (which  fell 
far  short  of  the  revelation  made  to  us  by 
Jesus  Christ,)  people  were  expressly 
warned  to  beware,  lest  by  following  some 
dreamer  of  dreams,  they  should  forsake 
that  God  who  was  now  made  known  unto 
them ;  for  it  is  written,  in  the  13th  chapter 
of  Deuteronomy,  "  If  there  arise  among 
you  a  dreamer  of  dreams,  saying,  Let  us 
go  after  other  gods,  and  serve  them,  even 
though  the  sign  or  the  wonder  shall  come 
to  pass,  yet  thou  shalt  not  go  after  that 
dreamer  of  dreams,  for  the  Lord  your  God 
hereby  proveth  you,  to  know  whether  you 
love  the  Lord  your  God,"  and  will  "  serve 
him  and  cleave  to  him." 


44  JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 

But  to  return  to  the  history  of  Joseph. 
God,  it  seems,  having  special  mercy  for 
him,  and  having  great  designs  in  view, 
and  having  first  sent  two  remarkable 
dreams  to  Joseph,  now  sends  two  other 
dreams  to  the  chief  butler  and  baker  of 
king  Pharaoh,  who  were  in  prison  with 
him,  and  enables  him  to  interpret  them. 

"  And  the  chief  butler  told  his  dream  to 
Joseph,  and  said  to  him,  In  my  dream, 
behold  a  vine  was  before  me,  and  in  the 
vine  were  three  branches,  and  it  was  as 
though  it  budded,  and  her  blossoms  shot 
forth,  and  the  clusters  thereof  brought  forth 
ripe  grapes ;  and  Pharaoh's  cup  was  in  my 
hand,  and  I  took  the  grapes  and  pressed 
them  into  Pharaoh's  cup,  and  gave  the  cup 
into  Pharaoh's  hand. 

"  And  Joseph  said  unto  him,  This  is  the 


JOSEPH    IN    PRISON.  45 

interpretation  of  it ;  the  three  branches  are 
three  days :  yet  within  three  days  shall 
Pharaoh  lift  up  thy  head,  and  restore  thee 
unto  thy  place;  and  thou  shalt  deliver 
Pharaoh's  cup  into  his  hand  after  the  for- 
mer manner  when  thou  wast  butler.  But 
think  on  me  when  it  shall  be  well  with 
thee ;  and  show  kindness,  I  pray  thee, 
unto  me,  and  make  mention  of  me  unto 
Pharaoh,  and  bring  me  out  of  this  house. 
For  indeed  (added  Joseph),  I  was  stolen 
away  out  of  the  land  of  the  Hebrews,  and 
here  also  I  have  done  nothing  that  they 
should  put  me  into  this  dungeon." 

"Now  when  the  chief  baker  saw  that 
the  interpretation  was  good,  he  said  unto 
Joseph,  I  also  was  in  my  dream,  and  be- 
hold I  had  three  white  baskets  on  my  head, 
and  in  the  uppermost  basket  there  was  of 


46  JOSEPH    IN    PRISON. 

all  manner  of  baked  meats  for  Pharaoh; 
and  the  birds  did  eat  them  out  of  the  bas- 
ket on  my  head.  And  Joseph  answered 
and  said,  This  is  the  interpretation  thereof; 
these  three  baskets  are  three  days;  yet 
within  three  days  shall  Pharaoh  lift  up 
thy  head  from  off  thee,  and  shall  hang  thee 
on  a  tree,  and  the  birds  shall  eat  thy  flesh 
from  off  thee." 

"  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  third  4ay, 
which  was  Pharaoh's  birth-day,  that  he 
made  a  feast  unto  all  his  servants :  and  he 
restored  the  chief  butler  unto  his  butlership 
again,  and  he  gave  the  cup  into  Pharaoh's 
hand ;  but  he  hanged  the  chief  baker,  as 
Joseph  had  interpreted  to  them ;  yet  did 
not  the  chief  butler  remember  Joseph." 


JOSEPH   DELIVERED   OUT   OP 
PRISON 


PART    III 


(g^gpteg.QOR  unhappy  Joseph !  we  left 
ygjpgMp  him  in  prison,  where  I  think 
^OT  he  must  have  had  a  very  anx- 
ious time,  for  who  could  tell  whether  it 
might  not  he  his  own  turn  next  to  be  taken 
out  and  hanged,  as  the  chief  baker  was ; 
and  yet  perhaps  there  might  be  some  ray 
of  hope  that  he  might,  like  the  chief  butler, 
get  out  and  go  back  to  his  office.  All  such 
hopes,  however,  soon  vanished,  for  though 


48  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

Pharaoh's  birth-day  came,  "on  which  he 
made  a  feast  to  all  his  servants,"  yet  it 
proved  no  holiday  to  Joseph ;  and  though 
the  chief  butler  got  settled  in  his  chief 
butlership  again,  and  was  giving  the  cup 
every  day  into  king  Pharaoh's  hand, 
"  yet  did  not  the  chief  butler  remember 
Joseph." 

Two  whole  years  passed  without  any 
improvement  in  this  poor  prisoner's  condi- 
tion: now,  in  all  this  time,  it  seems  very 
strange  that  the  chief  butler  should  not 
have  contrived  to  drop  a  word  in  his 
favour;  for  how  wonderfully  had  Joseph 
foretold  to  the  chief  butler  his  restoration 
to  office!  how  affectingly  too  had  he  en- 
treated to  be  remembered  by  him  when  the 
day  of  his  prosperity  should  come !  I  can- 
not help  here  repeating  -  the  parting  words 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  49 

of  Joseph,  for  they  are  very  remarkable. 
"  But  think  of  me,"  said  he,  "  when  it  shall 
be  well  with  thee,  and  show  kindness,  I 
pray  thee,  unto  me,  and  make  mention  of 
me  to  Pharaoh,  and  bring  me  out  of  this 
house ;  for  indeed  I  was  stolen  away  out 
of  the  land  of  the  Hebrews,  and  here  also 
I  have  done  nothing  that  they  should- put 
me  into  this  dungeon. — Yet  did  not  the 
chief  butler  remember  Joseph." 

Ah  !  how  just  a  picture  is  this  of  a  great 
part  of  mankind  !  We  are  many  of  us  apt, 
while  we  are  faring  well  ourselves,  to  take 
no  thought  about  those  who  are  poor,  and 
sick,  and  in  prison.  It  pleases  God  now 
and  then  to  let  one  or  other  of  us  rise  up 
in  the  world  ;  upon  which  we  go  away  and 
forget  all  our  old  companions,  some  of 
whom,  perhaps,  most  exceedingly  need  a 


50  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

helping  hand  from  us ;  we  are  grown  gay 
and  merry,  or  busily  engaged  among  our 
new  friends,  so  that  we  quite  forget  our  old 
ones :  and  then,  as  to  any  interest  which 
we  have  got  with  the  great,  we  feel  so  much 
in  awe  of  those  above  us,  we  are  so  soft,  and 
smooth,  and  civil,  when  we  are  in  their 
presence,  and  so  unwilling  to  say  anything 
which  may  possibly  give  offence,  or  which 
may  chance  to  hurt  our  own  interest,  that 
we  dare  not  speak  a  word  in  favour  even 
of  the  most  injured  character,  but  we  dis- 
miss him  from  our  thoughts,  just  as  the 
chief  butler  dismissed  Joreph  from  his  re- 
membrance. 

"  It  came  to  pass,  however,  at  the  end  of 
two  full  years,  that  king  Pharaoh  dreamed 
a  dream — and  behold  there  came  up  out  of 
the  river  seven  well-favoured  kine,  and  fat 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  51 

fleshed,  and  they  fed  in  a  meadow.  And 
behold  seven  other  kine  came  up  after  them, 
ill-favoured  and  lean  fleshed,  and  did  eat 
up  the  seven  well-favoured  and  fat  kine. 
And  Pharaoh  dreamed  the  second  time, 
and  behold  seven  ears  of  corn  came  up 
upon  one  stalk  strong  and  good.  And 
seven  thin  ears  sprung  up  after  them.  And 
the  seven  thin  ears  devoured  the  seven 
strong  and  full  ears.  And  Pharaoh  awoke, 
and  behold  it  was  a  dream." 

And  now  what  is  to  be  done  ?  the  king 
himself  is  troubled  with  a  dream.  "  And 
it  came  to  pass,"  says  the  Scripture,  "  that 
in  the  morning  the  king's  spirit  was  trou- 
bled; and  he  sent  and  called  for  all  the 
magicians  in  Egypt,  and  all  the  wise  men 
thereof,  and  Pharaoh  told  them  his  dreams ; 
but  there   was   none  that  could  interpret 


52  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

them  to  Pharaoh."  And  no  wonder,  for  it 
was  the  purpose  of  God  to  confound  by  this 
dream  all  the  magicians  of  Egypt,  in  order 
that  the  king  might  be  driven  to  ask  an 
interpretation  of  it  from  Joseph. 

"  And  then  came  the  chief  butler  and 
spake  unto  Pharaoh,  saying,  I  do  remember 
my  faults  this  day ;  for  Pharaoh  was  wroth 
with  his  servants,  and  put  me  in  ward  in 
the  captain  of  the  guard's  house,  both  me 
and  the  chief  baker ;  and  we  dreamed  a 
dream  in  one  night,  I  and  he.  And  there 
was  there  with  us  a  young  Hebrew,  servant 
of  the  captain  of  the  guard,  and  we  told 
him,  and  he  interpreted  to  us  our  dreams. 
And  it  came  to  pass  as  he  interpreted,  so  it 
was :  me  he  restored  unto  mine  office,  and 
him  he  hanged." 

What   joyful    intelligence   was    this   to 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  53 

Pharaoh  !  Methinks  I  see  his  countenance 
brighten  up  at  once  upon  it. 

"  Then  Pharaoh  sent  and  called  Joseph, 
and  they  brought  him  hastily  out  of  the 
dungeon.  And  he  shaved  himself  and 
changed  his  raiment,  and  came  in  unto 
Pharaoh." 

When  this  great  eastern  king  commands, 
not  a  moment  is  to  be  lost  in  obeying  him. 
For  two  long  years  had  Joseph  been  made 
to  wait  in  prison  for  his  deliverance,  but 
Pharaoh  would  hardly  wait  two  minutes 
before  Joseph,  whose  appearance  had  be- 
come quite  forlorn  and  wretched,  must  be 
brought  before  him  shaved  and  dressed, 
and  fit  for  the  royal  presence. 

"  And  immediately  Pharaoh  said  unto 
Joseph,  I  have  dreamed  a  dream,  and  there 
is  none  that  can  interpret  it,  and  I  have 


54  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

heard  say  of  thee,  that  thou  canst  under- 
stand a  dream,  to  interpret  it." 

Pharaoh  seems  not  yet  to  have  under- 
stood by  whose  help  it  was  that  Joseph  was 
enabled  to  interpret  dreams.  Joseph  had 
no  more  skill  in  these  matters  than  any 
other  man ;  but  he  was  the  servant  of  God, 
and  it  pleased  God,  for  his  own  purposes, 
to  give  to  Joseph,  by  miracle,  the  power 
of  interpreting  the  dreams  of  Pharaoh. 
Accordingly  Joseph  answers  Pharaoh  by 
saying,  "  It  is  not  in  me ;  God  shall  give 
to  Pharaoh  an  answer  of  peace."  Thus 
Joseph  takes  none  of  the  glory  to  himself, 
as  a  proud  person  would  have  been  glad  to 
do,  but  he  gives  it  all  to  God,  to  whom 
alone  it  was  due.  Pharaoh  then,  in  a 
Tery  exact  manner,  relates  his  two  dreams 
to  Joseph. 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  f      55 

"  And  Joseph  said  unto  Pharaoh,  the 
dream  is  one ; "  that  is  to  say,  the  two 
dreams  signify  one  and  the  same  thing, 
and  "  God  hath  showed  Pharaoh,  by  means 
of  them,  what  he  is  about  to  do.  The 
seven  good  kine  are  seven  years,  and  so 
also  the  seven  good  ears  of  corn  are  seven 
years,  the  dream  is  one.  And  the  seven 
thin  and  ill-favoured  kine  that  came  up 
after  them  are  seven  years,  and  the  seven 
empty  ears  of  corn  are  also  seven  years, 
and  these  last  also  signify  seven  years  of 
famine.  This,  therefore,  is  the  thing  which 
God  is  about  to  do ;  behold,  there  come 
seven  years  of  great  plenty  throughout  all 
the  land  of  Egypt,  and  there  shall  arise 
after  them  seven  years  of  famine.  Now, 
therefore,"  continued  Joseph,  "  let  Pharaoh 
look  out  a  man  discreet  and  wise,  and  set 


56  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

him  over  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  let  him 
appoint  officers,  and  let  them  gather  to- 
gether the  food  of  the  good  years,  and  lay 
it  up  in  the  cities,  and  it  shall  be  for  store 
against  the  seven  years  of  famine,  in  order 
that  the  land  may  not  perish.  And  the 
thing  which  Joseph  said  seemed  good  in 
the  eyes  of  Pharaoh  and  of  his  servants ; 
and  Pharaoh  said  unto  his  servants,  Can 
we  find  any  one  equal  to  this  Joseph,  a 
man  in  whom  the  Spirit  of  God  is  ?  And 
Pharaoh  said  unto  Joseph,  Forasmuch  as 
God  hath  showed  thee  all  this,  thou  shalt 
therefore  be  over  my  house,  and  according 
to  thy  word  shall  all  my  people  be  ruled ; 
only  in  the  throne  will  I  be  greater  than 
thou.  And  Pharaoh  took  off  the  ring  from 
his  hand,  and  put  it  on  Joseph's  hand,  and 
arrayed  him  in  vestments  of  fine  linen,  and 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  57 

put  a  gold  chain  about  his  neck,  and  made 
him  to  ride  in  the  second  chariot  that  he 
had,  and  they  cried  before  him,  Bow  the 
knee  !  and  he  made  him  ruler  over  all  the 
land  of  Egypt.  And  Pharaoh  said  unto 
Joseph,  I  am  Pharaoh,  and  without  thee 
shall  no  man  lift  up  his  hand  or  foot  in 
the  land  of  Egypt." 

How  wonderful  was  this  exaltation  of 
Joseph  !  He  is  now  greater  than  ever  he 
was.  He  had  before  been  the  first  man  in 
the  house  of  Pharaoh's  chief  captain,  but 
he  is  now  the  first  man  in  the  house  of 
Pharaoh  himself:  he  is  greater  than  Poti- 
phar,  his  own  former  master ;  he  is  the 
first  person  next  to  Pharaoh  in  all  the 
kingdom  of  Egypt. 

But  let  me  not  forget  to  admire  the  good 
providence  of  God  in  all  this.     It  was  God 


58  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

that  raised  him  from  being  a  slave  to  be  the 
chief  servant  of  Potiphar,  and  it  was  God 
that  lifted  him  up  from  being  a  prisoner,  to 
be  ruler  of  all  Egypt.  "  For  it  is  the  Lord, 
(as  the  Psalmist  says,)  that  maketh  rich, 
and  maketh  poor,  that  lifteth  up  and  cast- 
eth  down.  He  taketh  the  simple  out  of  the 
dust,  and  lifteth  the  poor  out  of  the  mire, 
that  he  may  set  him  with  the  princes,  even 
with  the  princes  of  the  people."  It  is  true 
he  sometimes  afflicts  even  his  most  favour- 
ed people :  "  he  brings  down,"  as  it  is  said, 
"  their  heart  through  heaviness,  they  fall 
down,  and  there  is  none  to  help  them  :"  he 
also  "  suffers  them  to  be  evil  entreated 
through  tyrants."  But  at  length  "  he 
brings  them  out  of  darkness,  and  out  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  and  breaks  their  bonds  in 
sunder."     "  He  leads  them  by  a  way  which 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  59 

they  know  not,  he  makes  darkness  light 
before  them,  and  crooked  things  straight ;  " 
and  thus,  "  though  heaviness  may  endure 
for  a  night,  yet  joy  cometh  in  the  morning." 
"  O  praise  the  Lord,  then,  ye  servants 
of  his  !  O  praise  the  name  of  the  Lord  ! 
Blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord,  from  this 
time  forth  for  evermore :  for  he  preserveth 
the  way  of  his  saints,  and  hath  been  ever 
mindful  of  his  covenant."  He  saved  Noah 
from  the  waters  of  the  flood,  he  brought 
forth  righteous  Lot  out  of  Sodom,  he  pre- 
served Shadrach  and  his  companions  in  the 
fiery  furnace,  and  Daniel  in  the  lion's  den. 
He  "  delivered  David  his  servant  from  the 
peril  of  the  sword."  "  He  showed  also  his 
ways  unto  Moses,  and  his  works  unto  the 
children  of  Israel."  It  was  "  He  also  that 
caused  a  dearth  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and 


60  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

destroyed  the  provision  of  bread.  But  he 
sent  a  man  before,  even  Joseph,  who  was 
sold  for  a  servant,  whose  feet  they  hurt  in 
the  stocks ;  the  iron  entered  into  his  soul — 
until  the  time  came  that  his  cause  was 
heard.  Then  the  king  sent  and  delivered 
him;  the  prince  of  the  people  let  him  go 
free ;  he  made  him  lord  also  of  his  house, 
and  ruler  of  all  his  substance." 

But  let  not  any  of  my  readers  suppose, 
that  Joseph  is  now  to  be  admired  merely 
for  his  greatness,  and  that  the  ring  on  his 
finger,  and  the  fine  vestment  on  his  back, 
and  the  grand  chariot  in  which  he  rode, 
were  the  chief  things  he  was  pleased  with. 
Joseph  was  a  great  man  undoubtedly,  but 
he  was  as  good  as  he  was  great ;  and,  in- 
deed, what  is  all  earthly  greatness  unless 
goodness  is  joined  with  it?     It  is  a  great 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  61 

sin,  in  my  opinion,  to  wish  to  be  a  prime 
minister  or  a  king,  for  the  mere  honour  of 
it,  and  I  would  rather  be  a  poor  labourer, 
that  is  of  some  use  in  the  world,  than  be 
the  greatest  monarch  in  Europe,  unless  I 
could  do  some  special  service  by  my  great- 
ness. Joseph  proceeds  directly  to  make 
himself  very  useful  in  his  new  station : 
"  for  he  immediately  went  out  from  the 
presence  of  Pharaoh,  and  travelled  through- 
out the  land ;  and  in  the  seven  plenteous 
years  the  earth  brought  forth  by  handfuls, 
and  he  gathered  up  all  the  food  of  the 
seven  years,  and  the  food  of  the  field  which 
was  round  about  every  city  laid  he  up  in 
the  same ;  and  he  gathered  corn  as  the 
sand  of  the  sea  very  much,  until  he  left 
numbering.  And  after  the  seven  years  of 
plenteousness  were  ended,  then  the  seven 


62  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

years  of  dearth  began  to  come,  according 
as  Joseph  said.  And  the  people  of  Egypt 
cried  unto  Pharaoh  for  bread ;  and  Pharaoh 
said  unto  them,  Go  unto  Joseph ;  and 
Joseph  opened  the  store-houses,  and  sold 
unto  the  Egyptians." 

I  am  afraid  that  my  readers  have  by  this 
time  almost  forgotten  Jacob,  the  father  of 
Joseph,  and  his  eleven  sons  who  were  living 
with  him  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  at  some 
distance  from  Egypt.  The  famine  of  the 
last  seven  years  was  such  as  to  be  severely 
felt  even  in  their  country.  "  Then  Jacob 
said  unto  his  sons,  whose  countenances 
were  all  cast  down  on  the  occasion,  Why 
do  ye  look  one  upon  another?  behold  I 
have  heard  that  there  is  corn  in  Egypt. 
Get  you  down  thither,  and  buy  for  us  from 
thence,   that  we    may  live   and   not   die. 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  63 

And  Joseph's  ten  brethren  went  down  ac- 
cordingly to  Egypt."  But  Benjamin,  being 
now  the  father's  favourite,  was  not  suffered 
to  go  with  them,  for  Jacob  said,  "  Perad- 
venture  some  mischief  will  befal  him." 

"  And  when  the  sons  of  Jacob  arrived, 
Joseph  was  the  governor  of  the  land,  and 
he  it  was  that  sold  to  all  the  people.  And 
Joseph's  brethren  came  and  bowed  them- 
selves down  before  him,  with  their  faces 
towards  the  earth." 

Oh !  what  a  change  of  scene !  These 
are  the  men  who,  the  last  time  they  saw 
Joseph,  had  said  of  him,  "  Behold  this 
dreamer  cometh."  They  had  then  put  him 
into  the  pit,  and  had  sold  him  for  a  slave, 
because  he  had  foretold  that  these  his 
brethren,  and  his  parents  (who  were  sig- 
nified by  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,)  should 


64  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

one  day  bow  down  before  him.  How  won- 
derfully does  God  accomplish  his  own  pur- 
poses !  The  very  means  which  we  take  to 
defeat  them  are  sometimes  made  use  of  by 
God,  in  order  to  bring  them  about.  Joseph's 
brethren  thought  that  by  selling  him  for  a 
slave,  they  should  prevent  their  ever  hav- 
ing to  bow  down  before  him ;  and  yet  by 
this  act  of  theirs  that  very  prophecy  was 
brought  to  pass. 

Let  no  one  then  presume  to  think  that 
he  can  direct  events  in  his  own  way ;  or, 
that  he  can,  either  by  art  or  power,  prevail 
against  God  ;  for  "the  counsel  of  the  Lord, 
it  shall  stand,  and  he  will  bring  it  to  pass/' 

"  The  Lord  taketh  the  wise  in  his  own 
craftiness ; "  "he  ordereth  all  things  in 
heaven  above,  and  in  the  earth  beneath." 
"  Go  to  now,  ye  that  say,  To-day  or  to- 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  65 

morrow  we  will  go  into  such  a  city,  and 
continue  there  a  year,  and  buy  and  sell, 
and  get  gain  :  wnereas  ye  know  not  what 
shall  be  on  the  morrow ;  for  that  ye  ought 
to  say,  If  the  Lord  will,  we  shall  live  and 
do  this  or  that." 

Joseph's  brethren,  while  they  were  bow- 
ing down,  did  not  know  Joseph,  for  he 
made  himself  strange  unto  them,  and  spake 
roughly,  saying, — "  Ye  are  spies  !  to  see 
the  nakedness  of  the  land  you  are  come." 
And  they  said,  "  Nay,  my  Lord,  but  to 
buy  food  are  we  come.  We  are  twelve 
brethren  from  the  land  of  Canaan,  and 
behold  the  youngest  is  this  day  with  our 
father,  and  one  is  not."  And  Joseph  said 
again,  "  Ye  are  spies  ! "  and  then  added  he, 
"  but  hereby  shall  ye  be  proved,  whether 
there  be  truth  in  you.     One  of  you  shall 


66  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

go  and  fetch  his  brother,  while  the  rest 
shall  be  kept  in  prison.  And  he  kept  them 
all  in  ward  three  days."  Joseph,  however, 
after  this,  lets  them  all  depart,  one  only 
excepted :  and  he  gives  them  corn  in  their 
bags  to  carry  home,  bidding  them  all  to 
come  again,  and  redeem  the  brother  they 
had  left  behind,  by  bringing  the  next  time 
their  youngest  brother  Benjamin.  Now  all 
this  seems  to  have  been  done  by  Joseph, 
for  the  purpose  of  collecting  every  one  of 
his  brethren  round  him  before  he  would 
discover  himself  to  them ;  and  perhaps  he 
was  led  to  practise  rather  too  much  art,  by 
his  anxiety  to  see  them  gathered  together. 

Then  said  Joseph's  brethren  one  to  an- 
other, "We  are  verily  guilty  concerning 
our  brother,  in  that  we  saw  the  anguish  of 
his  soul,  when  he  besought  us,  and  we 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  67 

would  not  hear ;  therefore,  behold,  also  his 
blooa  is  required  of  us." 

Oh  !  how  dreadful  is  a  guilty  conscience ! 
It  will  cause  our  sins  to  haunt  us  years 
after  they  have  been  committed.  Now, 
have  none  of  my  readers  ever  felt  the  like 
kind  of  terror  in  consequence  of  their  hav- 
ing done  something  amiss  ?  After  the  com- 
mission of  a  crime,  did  you  never  fancy, 
that  every  one  you  met  observed  you ;  and 
that  every  common  accident  was  a  judg- 
ment of  God  upon  you  ?  and  if  any  trou- 
ble happened  to  befal  you  a  long  time  after- 
wards, have  you  not  been  apt  immediately 
to  imagine,  that  it  had  some  connection 
with  your  former  guilt?  Sin  does  not 
always  leave  this  sting  behind  it,  for  some 
people  are  quite  hardened  by  their  crimes ; 
nevertheless  it  often  does.    If  the  sin  be 


68  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

great  and  dreadful,  if  it  be  something  par- 
ticular and  extraordinary,  like  the  selling 
of  a  brother,  or  the  thought  of  putting  him 
to  death>  then,  though  years  should  pass 
away  quietly,  yet  it  is  probable  that  con- 
science will  awake,  and  cry  out  against  us 
at  last.  In  the  present  case,  it  appears  to 
me,  that  Joseph's  brethren  had  no  clear 
ground  to  suppose  that  the  trouble  they 
dreaded  was  caused  by  their  having  for- 
merly sold  their  brother  Joseph.  It  was 
not  clear  that  any  trouble  whatever  was 
about  to  happen  to  them ;  and  even  if 
some  trouble  should  happen  to  them,  their 
having  once  sold  their  brother  might  not  be 
the  cause ;  but  guilt  is  fearful.  A  man  that 
has  some  undiscovered  crime  within  him, 
is  apt  to  feel  unreasonable  frights  and  fears ; 
his    imagination    becomes    disturbed ;    he 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  69 

grows  suspicious  beyond  all  reason ;  he 
sees  an  enemy  perhaps,  as  Joseph's  breth- 
ren did,  in  his  best  friend ;  and  the  very 
things  that  are  for  him,  if  they  happen  to 
go  awkwardly  for  a  day  or  two,  are  thought 
to  be  most  dreadfully  against  him.  In  short, 
a  person  whose  conscience  has  become  har- 
dended  with  some  great  sin,  has  often  no 
comfort  in  his  life,  until  he  has  fairly  con- 
fessed it,  and  repented  of  it. 

No  sooner  had  Joseph's  brethren  express- 
ed their  fright,  than  Reuben  lifts  up  his 
voice,  and  observes  to  them,  how  "  he  had 
entreated  them  not  to  hurt  their  brother, 
and  they  would  not  hear.  Therefore,  also," 
says  he,  "  is  his  blood  required  of  us." 
Here  again  we  may  discern  a  picture  of 
what  often  happens  among  those  who  have 
been  partners  in  iniquity.     When  the  time 


70  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

of  trouble  comes,  then  those  who  have  had 
less  hand  in  the  guilt,  begin  to  reproach 
the  others  for  having  been  principals  in 
the  business.  Like  Reuben,  they  begin  to 
justify  themselves,  and  say :  "  Did  not  I 
tell  you  at  the  time  to  take  care  what  you 
did?  but  you  would  not  mind  me,  and 
therefore  now  you  have  brought  down  all 
this  trouble  on  yourselves  and  not  on  your- 
selves only,  but  on  me  also."  Nothing 
is  more  common  than  for  those  who  are 
all,  more  or  less,  joined  in  the  same  crime, 
to  fall  out  and  reproach  one  another  for 
it  afterwards. 

Joseph  overheard  all  this  conversation 
among  his  brethren,  and  he  turned  himself 
about  from  them,  and  wept,  and  turned  to 
them  again,  and  communed  (or  had  con- 
versation by  means  of  an  interpreter)  with 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  71 

them,  and  took  from  them  Simeon,  and 
bound  him  before  their  eyes.  Joseph  then 
commanded  that  their  sacks  should  be  laden 
with  corn,  and  that  every  man's  money 
should  be  restored  into  his  sack,  which 
being  done,  they  departed ;  and  as  one  of 
them  opened  his  sack  to  give  his  ass  food 
at  the  inn,  he  espied  his  money ;  for,  behold, 
it  was  in  the  sack's  mouth.  And  when  he 
told  it  his  brethren,  all  their  hearts  failed 
them ;  and  they  said  one  to  another,  "  What 
is  this  that  God  hath  done  unto  us  ! "  Here 
again  their  disposition  to  take  fright  seems 
to  have  shown  itself.  I  suppose  they  now 
thought  that  some  judgment  of  God  would 
fall  upon  them  in  their  way  home,  on  ac- 
count of  the  same  sin  of  selling  Joseph. 

And  they  came  unto  Jacob  their  father, 
and  told  them  all  that  had  befallen  them, 


72  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

saying :  "  The  man  who  is  lord  of  the  land 
spake  roughly  to  us,  and  took  us  for  spies : 
and  we  said  unto  him,  We  are  true  men ; 
we  are  no  spies ;  we  be  twelve  brethren." 
Methinks  it  would  be  some  relief  to  Joseph's 
brethren  to  tell  their  father  how  harshly 
they  had  been  spoken  to,  and  how  unjustly 
they  had  been  suspected  when  they  were  in 
Egypt ;  for  whenever  a  man  has  some  great 
and  real  sin  on  his  mind,  he  is  glad  to  turn 
to  any  thing  right  or  innocent  in  his  con- 
duct, in  which,  nevertheless,  he  has  been 
accused  of  sinning.     Jacob's  sons  had  used 
their  father  ill  in  selling  Joseph,  but  they 
themselves  might  say  they  had  been  used 
ill  on  the  old  man's  account,  when  they 
went  to  buy  corn  for  him  in  Egypt.      It 
would  be  a  comfort,   therefore,  to  talk  to 
him  of  what  they  had  suffered  for  his  sake^ 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  73 

since  it  would  seem  to  make  amends  in 
some  measure  for  the  ill  which  they  were 
conscious  of  having  done  him. 

Let  us  beware,  however,  of  disguising 
our  guilt,  by  dwelling  on  some  smaller 
point,  in  which  it  may  be  true  that  we  are 
innocent.  To  do  so  is  one  of  the  common 
shifts  of  wicked  men ;  and  there  are  none 
so  wicked,  as  not  to  have  some  part  of  their 
conduct  on  which  they  can  dwell  with 
pleasure  and  self-complacency. 

But  when  Joseph's  brethren  proceeded  to 
explain  to  their  father,  how  the  lord  of  the 
country  had  commanded  them  to  bring  to 
him  their  brother  Benjamin,  and  how  he 
had  detained  Simeon  as  a  pledge  or  hostage 
on  his  account ;  then  Jacob,  in  the  bitter- 
ness of  his  heart,  exclaimed,  "  Me  have  ye 
bereaved  of  my  children ;    Joseph  is  not. 


74  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

and  Simeon  is  not,  and  ye  will  take  Benja- 
min away;  all  these  things  are  against 
me."  But  Reuben  now  came  up,  and  de- 
clared, that  if  Benjamin  might  but  go  with 
them,  he  would  pledge  the  lives  of  his  own 
two  infant  children  that  Benjamin  should 
be  brought  back  in  safety.  "And  Jacob 
said,  My  son  shall  not  go  down  with  you, 
for  his  brother  Joseph  is  already  dead  ;  and 
if  mischief  befal  Benjamin  also  by  the  way, 
then  shall  ye  bring  my  grey  hairs  with 
sorrow  to  the  grave.'7 

Ah  !  how  little  did  Jacob  know  of  the 
real  nature  of  those  events  which  were 
befalling  him  !  The  very  things  which  he 
said  were  against  him,  in  fact,  were  making 
for  him,  for  they  led  the  way  to  the  re- 
covery of  his  son  Joseph,  who  had  been 
lost,  and  also  to  Jacob's  removal,  with  all 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  75 

his  family,  into  the  plentiful  land  of  Egypt. 
I  do  not  wonder,  indeed,  that  this  poor  old 
man,  bowed  down  as  he  was  now  with  age 
and  infirmity,  and  deprived,  as  he  had  been, 
first  of  one  dear  son,  and  then  of  another, 
should  be  unwilling  to  let  his  present  fa- 
vourite Benjamin  be  carried  off  into  Egypt* 
And  yet  what  could  he  do  ?  The  famine 
now  again  grew  very  sore  in  the  land,  and 
at  last  when  all  the  corn  from  Egypt  was 
eaten  up,  even  Jacob  himself  is  represented 
as  asking  his  sons  to  go  again  and  buy  a 
little  food. 

"  Then  Judah  spake  unto  him,  saying, 
The  man  did  solemnly  protest  unto  us,  Ye 
shall  not  see  my  face  except  your  brother 
Benjamin  be  with  you. — Unless,  therefore, 
thou  send  him,  we  will  not  go  down  to 
Egypt."     Then  Jacob  said  unto  his  sons, 


76  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

"  Why  did  ye  tell  the  man  that  you  had  a 
brother  ?  "  And  they  answered,  "  The  man 
did  examine  us  closely  about  our  kindred, 
and  therefore  we  told  him ;  for  how  should 
we  know  that  he  would  bid  us  fetch  our 
brother  to  him  ?  "  Then  Judah  said  very 
earnestly,  "  I  pray  you  send  the  lad,  that 
we  may  not  all  die,  we  and  our  little  ones, 
and  I  will  be  surety  for  him."  And  Jacob 
said,  "  If  it  must  be  so,  do  then  as  you 
desire.  But  take  ye  the  best  fruits  in  the 
land,  balm,  and  honey,  and  spices,  and 
myrrh,  and  nuts,  and  almonds :  and  take 
double  money  in  your  hands,  and  the  money 
that  you  brought  back  in  your  sacks'  mouths 
carry  again ;  peradventure  it  was  an  over- 
sight. Take  also  your  brother  with  you, 
and  God  Almighty  give  you  mercy  before 
the  man,  that  he  may   send   away  your 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  77 

other  brother,  and  let  Benjamin  return  also. 
If  I  must  be  bereaved  of  my  children,  there 
is  no  help  for  it,  I  must  be  bereaved." 

Thus  did  the  sons  of  Jacob  depart,  all  of 
them  trembling  with  anxiety  and  fear,  and 
using  many  precautions  to  avoid  giving 
offence  to  the  great  person  to  whom  they 
were  going. 

Now  this,  I  may  observe,  is  a  picture  of 
what  sometimes  happens  to  us.  God  is 
perhaps  preparing  to  favour  us  with  some 
great  blessing,  just  as  he  was  now  about  to 
favour  the  family  of  Jacob ;  but  before  he 
gives  us  possession  of  the  blessing,  he  leads 
us  through  some  dark  and  dreary  path,  and 
we  fancy  a  great  evil  is  coming  upon  us. 
When,  therefore,  God  is  opening  the  way 
to  these  new  mercies,  we  hang  baek,  and 
say  with  good  old  Jacob,  "  All  these  things 


78  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

are  against  me."  But,  though  loth  to  move 
forward,  yet  what  can  we  do  ?  Some  peril 
greater  than  that  we  had  been  dreading 
awaits  us,  if  we  make  more  delay.  With 
a  heavy  heart,  with  a  complaining  tongue, 
and  with  weeping  eyes,  we  set  forward  in 
this  path,  which  is,  in  fact,  nevertheless,  the 
path  to  our  chief  happiness.  Thus  do  we 
often  quarrel  with  our  blessings.  And  this, 
I  take  it,  is  a  common  case ;  for  what  are 
all  our  complaints,  but  complaints  against 
Providence  ;  and  do  we  not  often  murmur, 
even  at  those  very  dealings  of  Providence 
which  afterwards  prove  the  most  remark- 
able for  our  good? 

Reader,  look  back  to  your  past  life  ;  con- 
sider those  seasons  in  it,  when  you  have 
been  forced,  by  necessity,  on  some  unplea- 
sant business,  or  when  you  have  been  hin- 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  79 

dered  in  your  pursuit  of  some  favourite 
plan,  or  contradicted  in  your  opinions  or 
your  wishes.  Now  and  then,  perhaps,  your 
situation  in  life  has  seemed  quite  melan- 
choly and  desperate  ;  misery  has  appeared 
to  threaten  you  on  every  side,  and  you 
have  had  only  a  sad  choice  of  evils,  just 
like  these  sons  of  Jacob,  who  thought  they 
had  only  to  choose  between  a  famine  at 
home,  and  ill  usage  in  Egypt.  And  yet, 
has  it  not  afterwards  proved,  that  God 
was  blessing  you  by  means  of  those  very 
things,  which  were  thought  at  the  time  so  . 
terrible  ? 

There  are  many  persons,  I  am  per- 
suaded, who  have  even  had  their  souls 
saved  much  in  the  same  way  in  which  the 
family  of  Jacob  had  their  lives  preserved. 
They  have  hung  back  and  struggled  hard 


80  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

for  a  while  against  those  very  things  which 
have  opened  the  way  to  their  eternal  sal- 
vation ;  they  have  been  brought  from  a 
life  of  sin  and  misery  unwillingly,  as 
Jacob's  sons  were  forced  to  leave  Canaan, 
and  sent  into  the  fruitful  land  of  Egypt. 
For  strange  as  it  may  sound,  how  unwill- 
ing are  men  to  have  their  souls  saved ! 
how  unwilling,  at  least,  to  take  those 
means  which  are  absolutely  necessary  for 
it !  How  many  servants,  as  well  as  ap- 
prentices and  others,  are  there,  who  can 
hardly  be  persuaded  to  attend  at  public 
worship,  or  at  least,  to  give  their  mind  to 
it  when  they  are  there ;  and  yet,  is  not 
this  one  of  the  means  of  salvation  ?  They 
must  be  forced  to  church  by  the  authority 
of  their  masters,  or  by  some  necessity, 
almost  as  urgent  as  that  which  drove  the 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  81 

sons  of  Jacob  from  Canaan  into  Egypt ! 
Again,  how  many  children  are  there,  who, 
though  invited  freely  to  a  Sunday  School, 
nevertheless  hang  back  from  going  thither, 
as  much  as  ever  the  sons  of  Jacob  hung 
back  from  going  into  Egypt.  Perhaps, 
too,  their  parents  have  at  the  same  time 
been  as  unwilling  to  part  with  them, 
through  some  false  fondness  or  other,  as 
ever  Jacob  was  to  part  with  his  son  Ben- 
jamin, though  it  proved  afterwards  to  be 
the  making  of  that  whole  family. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  story.  Joseph's 
brethren  set  off  from  Canaan  under  a  great 
fright,  as  I  have  already  told  you,  and 
they  took  double  money  in  their  hand,  and 
they  carried  Benjamin  with  them,  and 
having  come  down  to  Egypt,  they  stood 
before   Joseph.      Now   when   Joseph   saw 


82  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

them,  and  observed  that  Benjamin  also 
was  with  them,  he  ordered  a  great  dinner 
to  be  made  ready,  and  he  asked  them  to 
come  to  it.  And  Joseph's  brethren  were 
afraid,  on  account  of  the  money  which 
they  had  carried  off  in  their  sacks,  and 
they  got  near  to  Joseph's  steward,  and 
said  unto  him,  "  O  Sir,  we  came  down 
hither  before  to  buy  food,  and  it  came  to 
pass  that  when  we  got  to  the  inn  in  our 
way  home,  we  found  every  man's  money 
in  his  sack's  mouth,  and  therefore  we  have 
brought  it  back  to  you.  We  cannot  tell 
who  put  it  there,  and  we  have  now  brought 
other  money  also,  in  order  to  buy  food. — 
And  the  steward  said,  Peace  be  to  you,  I 
had  your  money  ;  and  he  brought  Simeon 
out  to  them." 

"  And  when  Joseph  came  home,  they 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  83 

drew  near,  and  offered  him  the  present 
which  they  had  brought,  and  bowed  them- 
selves to  the  earth  before  him.  And  Joseph 
asked  them  of  their  welfare,  and  said,  Is 
your  father  well,  the  old  man  of  whom 
you  spake ;  is  he  yet  alive  ?  And  they 
answered,  Thy  servant  our  father  is  in 
good  health,  he  is  yet  alive ;  and  they 
bowed  down  their  heads  again  to  the 
ground.  And  Joseph  lifted  up  his  eyes 
and  saw  his  brother  Benjamin,  and  said, 
Is  this  your  younger  brother,  of  whom  you , 
spake  to  me  ?  and  then  turning  to  the  lad, 

God  (said  he)  be  gracious  unto  thee. 

Joseph  now  was  much  moved,  for  his 
bowels  did  yearn  over  his  brother,  and  he 
sought  where  to  weep,  and  he  entered  into 
his  chamber  and  wept  there." 

Religion  does  not  deprive  men  (as  some 


84  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

have  imagined)  of  their  natural  affections 
and  feelings,  for  Joseph  was  a  religious 
man,  and  yet  how  did  he  overflow  with 
kindness  towards  his  brethren  !  It  is  also 
remarked  in  the  New  Testament,  of  one 
greater  than  Joseph,  I  mean  of  our  Saviour 
on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  Lazarus, 
that  "  Jesus  wept."  Religion  regulates,  no 
doubt,  all  the  natural  feelings  of  men; 
but  it  does  not  destroy  them. 

Presently  afterwards,  the  meat  was  set 
,on  table,  and  Benjamin5  s  mess  was  five 
times  as  great  as  any  other,  and  they  ate 
and  drank  together,  and  were  cheerful. 

"  Now  when  the  dinner  was  over,  Joseph, 
who  was  still  unknown  to  his  brethren, 
commanded  that  all  their  sacks  should  be 
filled  with  corn,  and  that  every  one's  money 
should  again  be  put  into  his  sack,   and 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  85 

moreover,  that  a  silver  cup,  being  Joseph's 
own  cup,  should,  together  with  the  money, 
be  put  into  the  sack  of  Benjamin ;  and 
when  the  morning  was  come  they  all  went 
away.  And  before  they  were  got  far  from 
the  city,  Joseph  sent  his  steward  after 
them,  who  charged  them  with  having  sto- 
len Joseph's  cup  out  of  the  house.  And 
they  immediately  denied  the  charge,  and 
said  vehemently,  With  whomsoever  of  us 
it  is  found,  we  will  agree  that  he  shall  die, 
and  that  we  will  all  of  us  be  your  slaves 
(or  bondmen):  and  a  search  being  made, 
behold  the  cup  was  found  in  Benjamin's 
sack. — Then  they  rent  their  clothes  for 
grief,  and  laded  every  man  his  ass,  and 
returned  to  the  city.  And  Joseph  said 
unto  them,  What  deed  is  this  that  ye  have 
done?     And   Judah   (the   same   who  had 


86  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

promised  Jacob  that  he  would  be  surety 
for  Benjamin)  replied,  What  shall  we  say 
unto  my  lord?  God  hath  found  out  the 
iniquity  of  thy  servants :  behold,  we  will 
now  be  bondmen  to  my  lord.  And  Joseph 
said,  Not  so :  but  he  in  whose  hand  the 
cup  is  found,  (namely  Benjamin,)  he  shall 
be  my  slave  or  servant.  But  as  for  you, 
get  you  all  away  to  your  father  in  peace." 
What  a  situation  had  these  sons  of  Jacob 
got  into  now !  Could  any  thing  be  more 
melancholy  and  distressful?  "  O  Jacob, 
Jacob,"  they  would  say,  "  how  shall  we 
ever  see  thy  face  in  peace,  if  we  bring  not 
back  Benjamin  with  us  ?  Well  do  we  re- 
member the  words  which  did  break  forth 
from  thee  at  parting  with  us:  Joseph  is 
not,  and  Simeon  is  not,  and  now  ye  will 
take  Benjamin  from  me." 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  87 

There  is  one  reflection  to  which  I  beg 
to  call  the  minds  of  my  readers  in  this 
place.  Jacob's  sons  are  now  accused  un- 
justly ;  they  are  brought  into  trouble  through 
no  fault  of  theirs :  whereas  formerly,  they 
had  committed  a  great  sin ;  I  mean  that 
of  selling  their  brother  Joseph ;  and  had 
suffered  no  particular  inconveniences  from 
it. — They  had  not  suffered  when  they  did 
wrong,  and  yet  now  they  suffer  for  doing 
right :  for  they  certainly,  as  I  should  think, 
did  right  in  going  down  to  buy  corn  for 
themselves  and  their  aged  father,  and  even 
in  bringing  Benjamin  with  them,  under  all 
the  circumstances  of  the  case.  Let  us  for 
a  moment  stop  here,  and  put  ourselves  in 
the  place  of  these  sons  of  Jacob.  They 
might  now,  methinks,  be  tempted  to  say, 
"  Surely  there  is  no  righteous  Governor 


88  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

of  the  world ;  for  when  we  do  right,  we 
only  suffer  for  it :  and  when  we  did  wrong, 
we  all  escape  unpunished.  We  will  not 
believe  therefore  in  a  Providence :  all  things 
happen  alike  to  all ;  this  world  is  governed 
by  chance :  nay,  and  the  chance  is  often 
in  favor  even  of  the  wicked."  To  all  such 
profane  reasoning,  if  I  had  seen  Joseph's 
brethren  at  this  moment  of  time,  I  would 
have  answered,  "  Stop  a  little  I  beseech 
you ;  do  not  decide  so  hastily,  for,  remem- 
ber, your  story  is  but  half  over.  By-and- 
by,  perhaps,  your  innocence  in  the  present 
matter  will  be  cleared  up,  and,  for  aught 
you  know,  your  former  sin,  though  long 
since  committed,  may  come  to  be  found 
out." 

Let  us  apply  this  remark  to  ourselves. 
We  often  seem  to  profit  for  a  while  by  some 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  89 

bad  thing  that  we  have  done,  or  at  least 
we  suffer  no  present  punishment.  Our 
fraud,  our  lying,  or  our  act  of  violence, 
succeeds  for  a  certain  time  ;  and  perhaps, 
presently  afterwards,  we  chance  to  get 
into  trouble  by  doing  something,  which,  on 
the  whole,  really  seems  to  have  been  our 
duty.  Do  you  never  feel  tempted  to  dis- 
believe in  Providence  on  such  an  occa- 
sion 1  If  you  are,  I  would  say  to  you,  as 
I  just  now  observed  that  I  would  have 
said  to  Joseph's  brethren,  "  Wait  a  while, 
I  beseech  you.  Remember,  your  story  is 
but  half  over;  do  not  decide  till  you  ob- 
serve the  issue.  See  whether  in  the  end 
you  will  not  be  sorry  for  every  bad  thing 
you  have  ever  done,  and  glad  of  every 
thing  which,  through  God's  grace,  you 
have  been  enabled  to  do  aright ;  and  even 


90  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

though  this  should  not  he  the  case  now,  it 
certainly  will  on  the  day  of  judgment." 


JOSEPH    DISCOVERS    HIMSELF    TO    HIS 
BRETHREN. 

When  Joseph  had  made  this  proposal 
of  keeping  Benjamin  as  his  slave  or  ser- 
vant, and  of  sending  the  other  sons  of 
Jacob  home  in  peace  to  their  father,  Judah 
came  forward,  and  related  all  that  had 
passed  in  the  old  man's  house  when  they 
were  bringing  Benjamin  away.  "  My 
father  said  to  us,"  observed  Judah,  "  Be- 
hold I  have  had  two  sons,  and  the  one 
went  from  me,"  meaning  Joseph,  "  who  is 
torn  in  pieces:  and  if  ye  take  this  also 
away,  and  mischief  befal  him,  ye  shall 
bring  down    my  grey  hairs  with   sorrow 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  91 

to  the  grave.  Now,  therefore,"  says  Judah, 
"  let  me  abide  instead  of  the  lad,  as  a  bond- 
man to  my  lord,  and  let  the  lad  go  up  with 
his  brethren.  For  how  shall  I  go  up  to 
my  father,  seeing  that  his  life  is  bound  up 
in  the  lad's  life?  and  it  shall  come  to  pass, 
when  he  seeth  that  the  lad  is  not  with  us, 
that  he  will  die." 

"  Then  Joseph  could  not  refrain  him- 
self before  all  them  that  stood  by  him, 
and  he  bade  every  stranger  to  go  out. 
Then  Joseph  made  himself  known  to  his 
brethren :  and  Joseph  wept  aloud,  so  that 
the  Egyptians  in  the  house  overheard  him. 
And  Joseph  said  unto  his  brethren,  I  am 
Joseph.  Doth  my  father  yet  live?  and 
his  brethren  could  not  answer  him,  for 
they  were  troubled  at  his  presence." 

No  wonder  that  Joseph's  brethren  were 


92  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

troubled  at  this  speech.  O  !  how  bitter  a 
thing  is  sin.  It  causes  trouble  at  those 
moments  which  ought  to  be  given  up  to 
joy.  It  spreads  a  gloom  over  our  happiest 
hours  ;  and  while  those  who  are  not  loaded 
with  the  same  guilt  are  giving  way  to  the 
most  delightful  feelings,  dt  makes  the  man 
who  is  burdened  in  his  conscience  to  feel 
a  double  pang ;  to  feel  a  pang,  I  mean, 
both  on  account  of  the  sin  itself,  and  also 
on  account  of  his  regret  at  being  unable 
to  join  in  the  general  joy  that  is  going 
forward. 

Joseph,  nevertheless,  comforts  his  breth- 
ren. 

"  Now  therefore,"  says  he,  "  be  not 
grieved  nor  angry  with  yourselves,  for  God 
did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve  all  our 
lives ;  so  now  it  was  not  you  that  sent  me 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 


93 


hither,  but  God."     How  freely  does  Joseph 
appear,  by  this  speech,  to  forgive  his  breth- 
ren !     Here   is   no   malice,   no   hatred,   no 
spirit  of  revenge,  no  word  even  of  reproof 
for  all  the  evil  they  had  endeavoured  to  do 
him ;  but  the  injured  person  is  himself  the 
comforter  of  those  who  had  tried  to  injure 
him.      Here,  perhaps,   some   one   may  be 
ready  to  say,  "  True,  Joseph  did  right  to 
forgive  his  brethren,  for  we  are  all  bound 
to  forgive  them  that  trespass  against  us ; 
methinks,  however,  he  might  as  well  have 
said  something  to  them  of  their  sin,  for  the 
sake  of  their  own  good."     I  answer,  that 
there  is  a  time  for  all  things,  and  that  this 
was  not  the  time  for  Joseph  to  administer 
reproof.      His    brethren    were   likely,  just 
now,  to  be  cast  down  through  overmuch 
sorrow,  and  the  thing  they  needed,  at  this 


94  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

moment,  was  therefore  comfort  rather  than 
reproof.  People  who  take  all  occasions  to 
reprove,  without  regard  to  time,  or  place,  or 
circumstances,  though  they  may  say  they 
mean  only  to  do  good  by  it,  are  apt  to  be 
harsh  people.  They  are  only  indulging 
their  own  spirit;  and  though  they  may 
persuade  themselves  that  they  are  of  a 
forgiving  temper  at  bottom,  in  fact  are  not 
so  much  so  as  they  think. 

But  I  would  observe,  further,  that  this 
extreme  kindness  of  Joseph  would,  in  my 
opinion,  tend  to  affect  the  hearts  of  his 
brethren  more  than  the  severest  reproof. 
"  What  (they  would  now  say  to  them- 
selves), have  we  sold  for  a  slave  a  brother 
so  kind,  so  generous,  so  excellent  as  this  ? 
How  little  did  we  know  of  him  when  we 
took  upon  us  to  sell  him?     How  rashly 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  95 

did  we  judge  concerning  his  true  charac- 
ter, and  concerning  his  intention  in  those 
words  which  gave  us  so  much  offence ! 
He  was  a  better  man  than  we,  though  we 
all  talked  so  much  against  him,  and  even 
thought  him  hardly  fit  to  live."  I  would 
here  beg  all  my  readers  to  take  care  how 
they  speak  evil  of  persons  without  due 
knowledge  of  their  character.  Especially 
I  would  advise  you  to  beware  of  judging 
any  one  on  account  of  his  having  said  or 
done  something  which  happens  to  wound 
your  own  pride,  or  to  give  pain  merely  to 
yourself.  He  may  be  a  good  man  on  the 
whole,  even  though  he  should  have  erred 
in  this  particular :  and  you  may  err  more 
by  the  revenge  you  take  for  what  he  has 
said  that  is  offensive  to  you,  than  he  has 
done  by  saying  it.     Take  heed,  then,  lest 


96  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

some  day  or  other  should  come  when  the 
very  person  whom  you  are  set  against 
shall  have  his  character  cleared  before  all 
the  world,  in  spite  of  every  thing  you  have 
said  against  him.  Take  heed,  lest  you 
should  be  proved  to  have  been  the  greater 
sinner  of  the  two  on  that  day  when  you 
shall  each  of  you  appear  before  God,  and 
all  his  holy  angels.  O  that  we  could  all 
learn  something  of  this  kind,  and  affec- 
tionate, and  forbearing  temper  of  Joseph! 
He  was  as  remarkable  for  it  as  he  was  for 
conquering  those  secret  temptations  with 
which  he  had  formerly  been  assailed. 

Joseph  having  discovered  himself  to  his 
brethren,  is  now  impatient  that  they  should 
go  to  his  father : — "  Haste  ye,"  says  he, 
"  and  go  up  to  my  father,  and  say  unto 
him,  Thus  saith  thy  son  Joseph,  God  hath 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  97 

made  me  lord  of  all  Egypt.  Come  down, 
tarry  not,  and  thou  shalt  dwell  in  the  land 
of  Goshen ;  and  thou  shalt  be  near  unto 
me,  thou  and  thy  children,  and  thy  chil- 
dren's children,  and  thy  flocks,  and  thy 
herds,  and  all  that  thou  hast,  and  there 
will  I  nourish  thee,  for  there  are  yet  five 
years  of  famine  to  come.  And  Joseph  fell 
on  his  brother  Benjamin's  neck  and  wept ; 
and  Benjamin  wept  on  his  neck.  More- 
over, he  kissed  all  his  brethren,  and  wept 
upon  them,  and  after  that  his  brethren 
talked  with  him.  And  the  fame  thereof 
was  heard  in  Pharaoh's  house ;  and  it 
pleased  Pharaoh  and  his  servants.  And 
Pharaoh  said,  Bring  your  father  and  your 
household :  take  waggons  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt  for  your  little  ones,  and  for  your 
wives,  and  bring  your  father,  and  come. 


98  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

And  they  did  so.  And  Joseph  gave  to 
each  of  them  changes  of  raiment ;  and  he 
sent  to  his  father  ten  asses  laden  with  the 
good  things  of  Egypt,  and  ten  more  asses 
laden  with  corn  and  bread  and  meat,  for 
his  father  by  the  way." 

Accordingly  Jacob  having  been  invited 
by  his  sons,  and  having  also  been  encour- 
aged by  God  in  a  dream,  arrived  in  Egypt ; 
and  all  the  souls  that  went  with  him,  be- 
sides his  sons'  wives,  were  sixty  and  six. 

"  And  Joseph  made  ready  his  chariot, 
and  went  to  meet  his  father,  and  fell  on 
his  neck,  and  wept  a  long  time.  And 
Jacob  said,  Now  let  me  die,  since  I  have 
seen  thy  face,  that  thou  art  yet  alive. 
And  Joseph  brought  in  Jacob  his  father, 
and  set  him  before  Pharaoh.  And  Pha- 
raoh said  unto  Jacob,  How  old  art  thou? 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  99 

and  Jacob  said  unto  Pharaoh,  The  days 
of  the  years  of  my  pilgrimage  are  an  hun- 
dred and  thirty  years ;  few  and  evil  have 
the  days  of  the  years  of  my  life  been.  And 
Jacob  blessed  Pharaoh.  And  Jacob  lived 
in  the  land  of  Egypt  seventeen  years,  and 
he  died." 

"  Now  when  Joseph's  brethren  saw  that 
their  father  was  dead,  they  said,  Joseph 
will  peradventure  hate  us,  and  will  requite 
us  for  all  the  evil  that  we  did  unto  him. 
And  they  sent  a  message  to  Joseph,  say- 
ing, that  their  father,  before  he  died,  com- 
manded them  to  request  of  Joseph,  that  he 
would  forgive  their  trespasses  against  him. 
And  Joseph  wept  to  think  that  they  should 
speak  thus  unto  him.  And  Joseph  said, 
Fear  not.  As  for  you,  indeed,  ye  thought 
evil   against  me:    but  God   meant  it  for 


100  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

good.  New,  therefore,  I  will  nourish  you 
and  your  little  ones.  And  he  comforted 
them,  and  spake  kindly  unto  them.  And 
Joseph  lived  an  hundred  and  ten  years. 
And  he  said  to  his  brethren,  God  will 
surely  visit  you,  and  bring  you  out  of  this 
land  into  the  land  which  he  promised  to 
Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  And 
Joseph  died." 

Thus  ends  the  history  of  Joseph.  I  have 
already  observed,  that  one  of  the  chief 
things  to  be  learned  from  it  is,  the  doc- 
trine of  a  particular  providence.  "  It  was 
not  you  (as  Joseph  said  very  justly  to  his 
brethren)  that  sent  me  into  Egypt ;  but  it 
was  God  ; "  that  is,  it  was  not  you  only. 
Men,  indeed,  were  the  instruments,  and 
men  are  accountable  to  God  for  every  part 
of  their  own  conduct,  just  as  much  as  if 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  101 

there  was  no  providence  in  the  case.     Still, 
however,    though    man    may    act    as    he 
pleases,  yet  God  overrules  all  things,   so 
as  to  bring  about  his  own  purposes.     God, 
in  this  instance,  had  a  plan  in  view.     He 
had   made    a    promise    to    Abraham,    the 
grandfather  of  Jacob,  who  was  the  father 
of   Isaac,   that    from    him   the    Saviour 
should   come,  for  that    "  in  his   seed   all 
the  families  of  the  earth  should  be  bless- 
ed."    In  fulfilment  of  this  promise,  Isaac 
and  Jacob  were  born.     I  should  here  re- 
mark by  the  way,  that  to  Jacob  the  name 
of  Israel  was   given;    so  that  when  the 
Scriptures  speak  of  the  Israelites,  it  is  the 
same  thing  as  if  they  said  the  children  of 
Jacob.     Of  these  there  were  twelve  tribes, 
every  one  of  the  sons  of  Israel  becoming 
the  father  of  a  whole  tribe.     These  Israel- 


102  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

ites,  after  a  time,  were  brought  out  from 
Egypt,  having  been  very  ill  treated  there 
by  king  Pharaoh,  and  they  became  a  great 
and  famous  people ;  for  God  wrought  many 
miracles  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  gave 
them  the  law  of  the  Ten  Commandments, 
and  set  up  his  worship  among  them,  and 
separated  them  from  the  rest  of  the  world, 
which  continued  in  ignorance  of  God  and 
of  the  Scriptures.  It  was  from  these  Israel- 
ites (or  Jews,  as  they  were  afterwards  call- 
ed) that  the  promised  Saviour  came.  And, 
blessed  be  God,  this  Saviour  is  not  the 
Saviour  of  the  Jews  only,  but  he  is  now 
preached  to  us,  "  upon  whom  the  ends  of 
the  world  are  come."  How  important  then 
is  the  story  of  Joseph  in  this  view  !  it  was 
a  necessary  link  in  the  great  chain  of  pro- 
vidence, and  this  chain  reaches  from  the 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  103 

beginning  of  the  world  even  to  the  end 
of  it.  Nor  is  it  with  the  life  of  Joseph 
only,  that  the  providence  of  God  concerns 
itself.  Your  life  and  mine,  and  all  the 
various  events  of  it,  great  and  small,  from 
our  birth  unto  our  dying  hour,  are  equally 
under  the  Divine  direction.  The  same 
God  who  sent  the  Ishmaelites  to  the  pit's 
mouth,  when  Joseph  was  so  near  being 
left  to  perish  there,  the  same  God  who 
gave  Joseph  favour  in  the  sight  of  Poti- 
phar,  his  master,  and  who  afterwards  de- 
livered him  out  of  prison,  and  made  him 
ruler  over  all  Egypt,  appoints  also  to  us 
the  bounds  of  our  habitation,  and  orders 
our  whole  lot  in  life.  If,  then,  like  Joseph, 
we  are  serving  God,  let  us  not  fear  to  trust 
him ;  and  though  we  should  fall  occasion- 
ally into  straits,  as  Joseph  did,  yet  let  us 


104  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

hope,  when  the  end  of  our  days  shall 
come,  and  when  the  whole  of  our  story- 
shall  be  told,  that  we  shall  be  able  to  trace 
the  Lord's  goodness  and  mercy  even  in 
the  most  afflictive  circumstances  of  our 
lives,  as  we  have  now  been  doing  in  the 
case  of  Joseph. 

Nor  let  us  wonder  at  the  vast  confusion 
and  disorder  which  we  sometimes  see  in 
the  world  in  general.  Let  not  our  faith 
fail  us,  if  now  and  then  the  wicked  should 
seem  every  where  to  prosper,  and  the 
whole  company  of  the  righteous  should 
come  under  adversity.  The  history  of 
Joseph  shows,  that  it  is  the  plan  of  Pro- 
vidence sometimes  to  withdraw,  in  appear- 
ance, his  protection  and  favour  from  his 
own  servants,  and  to  put  off,  to  a  future 
season,  the  evil  day  which  is  coming  upon 


JOSEPH    DELIVERED.  105 

sinners.  Soon,  however  the  time  will  come, 
when  all  that  has  been  crooked  shall  be 
made  straight,  and  all  that  has  been  dark 
in  providence  shall  be  cleared  up. 

The  story  of  Joseph,  as  we  also  observed, 
is  but  a  small  part  of  Scripture ;  it  fills  but 
a  few  pages  of  that  large  and  comprehen- 
sive volume,  being  connected,  however, 
with  events  which  go  before,  and  with 
those  which  follow  after;  and  just  so, 
methinks,  the  history  of  this  whole  globe 
of  ours  is  but  like  a  single  leaf  in  a  great 
volume,  and  jt  cannot  be  fully  understood 
until  the  dealings  of  God  with  all  his  vari- 
ous creatures  shall  be  made  known,  until 
the  whole  book  of  his  providence  shall  be 
opened,  and  until  all  those  events,  both 
past  and  future,  with  which  God's  gov- 
ernment of  this  world  may  be  connected, 


106  JOSEPH    DELIVERED. 

shall  be  fully  revealed.  Let  us  wait,  there- 
fore, in  the  exercise  of  faith  and  hope,  re- 
membering, as  the  Apostle  says,  that  while 
we  are  below,  "  We  know  but  in  part ; 
but  when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come, 
then  that  which  is  in  part  shall  be  done 
away. — For  now  we  see  through  a  glass 
darkly;  but  then  face  to  face.  Now  we 
know  in  part,  but  then  shall  we  know, 
even  as  also  we  are  known." 


* 


